AS you walk down the main staircase and into the reception of St Mirren Park, the walls are adorned by a succession of pictures from last season's Scottish Communities League Cup run.
At the top of the first flight are images from the early-round victories over Ayr United and Hamilton Academical, followed by snaps of the penalty shootout win over Aberdeen; cross the landing and the semi-final triumph over Celtic is depicted, with the final win over Hearts and subsequent celebrations accompanying the journey down the lower flight.
Danny Lennon's smiling face looks out from many of the montages. The manager, as a consequence of his success in guiding the Paisley club to their first major trophy in 26 years, has an indelible place in St Mirren's history. His role in their future, though, grows ever more uncertain. Saturday's visit of Partick Thistle was widely considered to be a game he needed to win, if only so that the spotlight swivelled on to one of his peers instead, but a late collapse ensured that his own employment continued to dominate the discourse.
Lennon's achievements, and their relative recentness, add a layer of complexity to the conversations. Winning a trophy should, of course, buy him time as well as the eternal gratitude of St Mirren fans but the cacophony of jeers that reverberated around the ground at the end of a third defeat in five games this season suggest that patience - something the manager pleaded for in an admirably candid post-match address - is in short supply. "I feel sorry for him," admitted defender Marc McAusland. "The gaffer is taking the brunt of the stick because the supporters and the media are focusing on him, but it's the players who need to get the results. It's a results-driven business and, if we're not producing on the park, it looks bad on us and the manager. We need to do better, to stop giving away daft goals, and give our fans something to cheer about."
The experience of the ongoing turbulence, says Lennon, is something he will put "in his toolbag" with a view to using to his benefit at a later stage but he will need to rummage deeper in his satchel to find solutions to his side's malaise. As part of his plea for clemency, he referenced the fact St Johnstone started last season with just one point from four games yet went on to finish third, but it is perhaps more apposite to evaluate whether that is a valid comparison.
The St Mirren manager is fond of talking about the quality of player he has to work with and, certainly, he has men in his pool with the ability and experience to earn better results than they have been; Gary Harkins, Steven Thompson, Paul McGowan and Kenny McLean, for example, are all talented performers. The back four fails continually to convince, though, which makes the exclusion of Lee Mair in favour of converted midfielder Jim Goodwin all the more baffling, even if he and McAusland were the central pairing who played in the Hampden triumph and were relatively solid, for the most part, against Thistle.
"We had defended really well and I couldn't see a goal coming from them," insisted McAusland. "But once they scored the crowd got on our backs a wee bit and you start thinking that you can't afford to lose another one. And then it happens. We could have prevented both of them but it's been the same story for the last few weeks and it's getting to everyone. I'm feeling it. I'm getting it from my mates, who are also fans. I'm from Paisley so I'm meeting people all the time and it's really negative. The fans are on our backs - but rightly so."
So what needs to change? Lennon made the obligatory references to hard work but, as McAusland's comments conveyed, the currency they covet is confidence. Thistle are exuding it throughout their team at the moment, their tally of eight points from a potential 15 making it increasingly likely that their first campaign back in the top division will be followed by a second.
That they were ever behind on Saturday was remarkable in itself, given the sheer weight of chances they spurned before St Mirren scored, but they reacted well and continued to play the probing, passing football that has won them admirers since their ascension and were rewarded with two well-worked goals.
"Everyone is just waiting for us to mess up and have a blip but the boys are fantastic every day in training and anyone who has seen us this season will know it's no fluke," said Kallum Higginbotham, who was hugely impressive on the left of the Thistle attack after an encouraging cameo at Motherwell last weekend. "We've not played anyone in the league that's given us a beating from start to finish, so we're not scared by anyone we've played up until now. It's only five games in so it's too early to be going on about Europe but if we carry on playing as we have then there's no reason why we can't be up there."
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